Dear Hugo and friends,

could the first disciple also had taken refuge in the Triple-Gem?

Yes, following your way of reasoning. But, the fact is he did not.

As another example, the four-fold assembly was effectively only three-
fold before the ordination of bhikkhunis.


metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Hugo wrote:

> I would tend to agree that the fifth precept is established later
> than the other four. It is like the Buddha's first disciples only
> took refuge in the Dual-Gem: Buddha and Dhamma (not Triple-Gem).

That would be true if there had not been any previous Sangha, but as
there were previous Buddhas, I guess there were previous Sangha too,so
even the very first disciple could take refuge on the Triple-Gem, don't
you think?